Improvement in coffin-handles



UNITED STATES PATENT EETCE.

AUGUSTUS CLARK, OF AMSTERDAM, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN COFFIN-HANDLES.

To all lwhom t may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS CLARK, of Amsterdam, in the county of Montgomery and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Handles for Oot'tns, 85e.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The present invention consists in a novel connection or jointing of the ends of a handle for coftins, burial-Gaskets, cases, Src., to the fixed or staple plates of the same, whereby, when the handle is swung or turned up into a horizontal position, or nearly so,it will be held or fixed there, as it were, until relieved by bringing` sufficient downward pressure to bear upon the same,with the hand or hands, therefor.

Handles for buryingcases have been heretofore attached to them in a iixed horizontal position, or sufficiently so to enable them to be grasped with facility when desired to carry the coffin from one place to another 5 but as they were fixed in such position it necessitated the use of a much larger box for packing the casket, the disadvantages, as well as inconvenience, of which are too self-evident to all conversant with the manufacture and construction of burial-cases and the necessary trimmings to need any particular mention herein.

In accompanying plate of drawings my im provement is illustrated, Figure l being a front view of one end of a coffin-handle hinged to the fixed staple or plate ot the same according to my invention; Fig. 2, a central longitudinal vertical section, taken in the plane of the line x w, Fig. 1, showing the handle in both a horizontal and vertical position.

a a in the drawings represent one xed staple or plate screwed or otherwise fastened to the coftn, burial-case, or casket at the proper point thereof, either on its sides or ends, and ornamented with any desired and appropriate congurations, made of any suitable kind of metal or other material, to and on which plate the handle-arm b is hinged. by a pivot-joint, c, of its projecting shoulder-piece d. This handlearm is made ofthe general shape and style represented in the drawings, and has passed through its outer end, j', one end portion ot' a handle-rod extending along and in the direction ot' the length of the side or end of the coffin upon which it is placed, which rod, at its other end, is inserted in a similar shaped handle-arm to that above described, and hinged to its fixed staple or plate ot' the coffin in the same manner as is explained yfor the arm b.

g is a bent metallic spring, secured at one end to and upon the under side ot' the shank or stock portion h ot' the handle-arm b by means of a screw, l, the other end resting and bearin g against the outer side and upper edge, n, of the fixed shoulder (l, according as it is in a vertical or hanging position, or in a horizontal one, as plainly seen in Fig. 2. By means of this spring g, when the handle is turned into a horizontal position, or nearly so, or so that its inner end. o, rests upon the shoulder d, itis obvious that the handle is thereretained by the spring until sufficient pressure is brought to bear upon the handle to overcome the force or strength ofthe same, when, as the handle is turned down, the inner end of the spring moves around and upon the shoulder-piece, as is evident without further explanation.

The handle may be made of various shapes and sizes other than those herein described, as well, also, as their ixed staples or plates, and of any desired ornamentation or configura-- tion, according to the taste of different persons.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent- The combination of the hinged handle-arm b and sustainingspring g, constructed, arranged, and operatin g as described.

The above specification of my invention signed by me thi 20th day ofJune, A. D. 1865.

A. CLARK.

Witnesses:

ALBERT W. BROWN, M. M. LIvINGsToN. 

